Generational change after almost 50 years
Avionik Straubing was founded in 1977 by Gunter Hemmel at Straubing-Wallmühle Airfield. A year later, his wife Iris joined the company. Since then, the business has evolved from a traditional avionics workshop into one of Europe's leading specialists in aircraft electronics.
Now the company is passing entirely into the hands of the next generation. With Martin Scheifl, Josef Breu and Stefan Schönsteiner, it is not external investors who are taking over, but three long-standing employees and managers.
The new ownership structure is therefore a classic management buyout. For customers, employees and partners, less changes than with a sale to someone outside the industry: know-how, contacts and technical expertise remain within the company.
From the Cessna to the business jet
The customer base of Avionik Straubing is unusually broad.
Classic single-engine touring aircraft as well as turboprops, helicopters and business jets can be found in the workshops. Thanks to the location directly at Straubing airfield, large corporate business jets can also taxi directly to the facility.
Regularly, around ten aircraft are being worked on simultaneously. A significant portion of these receive complete avionics modernisations, while other machines come into the workshop for repairs or troubleshooting.
Older aircraft in particular represent an important market. Many machines from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s still have a long structural lifespan, but their original avionics frequently no longer meet today's requirements.
More than a traditional maintenance company
What makes Avionik Straubing particularly special is that the company does not just install and replace equipment.
Among other things, the organisation holds an EASA Part 145 approval for maintenance work and its own Part 21J design organisation. This enables technical modifications to be developed, engineered and certified in-house.
Over the years, hundreds of Supplemental Type Certificates have been created for various aircraft modifications.
In addition, there are approvals for the American and British markets. This means that the company can also service aircraft with FAA or UK certification.
The range of services includes navigation, communication, GPS, autopilots, weather radar, flight management systems and complete glass cockpit conversions.
Repair rather than just replace
An increasingly rare skill is the repair of individual avionics devices.
Whilst modern maintenance often amounts to completely replacing a defective module, Avionik Straubing still possesses the capabilities and test equipment to repair individual components, provided that manufacturer documentation and certification permit this.
This can be economically attractive, especially for older devices for which spare parts or complete replacement units are difficult to obtain.
Mechanical flight instruments are also still being overhauled. These include, for example, directional gyros and artificial horizons. Even special systems for balancing mechanical gyro rotors are still available.
In doing so, the business preserves skills that are becoming increasingly rare with the advance of digital avionics in Europe.
Glass cockpit drives growth at the same time
Despite these traditional competencies, a large part of today's business lies in modern digital avionics.
Many owners use major maintenance events to replace old vacuum instruments, navigation equipment and autopilots with modern systems.
Complete panel upgrades can include PFD and MFD, GPS navigator, digital autopilot, transponder, ADS-B and electronic engine monitoring.
The market is likely to remain significant in the coming years. A large part of the European GA fleet consists of older, technically sound aircraft, the modernisation of which can be significantly cheaper than purchasing a new aircraft.
In-house development remains important
Avionik Straubing is also not restricted to products from major manufacturers.
The in-house development organisation also implements bespoke avionics solutions and has its own products, including altitude pre-select systems, displays, fuel quantity measurement systems and the integration of modern navigation procedures into existing cockpits.
Hardware and software can be developed in accordance with the relevant aviation standards and subsequently certified via the company's own design organisation.
This allows the company to cover an unusually large part of the value chain itself – from development and certification, through manufacturing and testing, to installation in the aircraft.
New owners want to expand the range
With the change of ownership, this direction is fundamentally to be maintained. At the same time, the new owners are planning to expand the mechanical work division.
The underlying idea is obvious: a comprehensive avionics upgrade can keep an aircraft in the hangar for several weeks. This downtime can be used to carry out additional maintenance or modification work at the same time.
For the customer, this could mean more work being done from a single source in future, eliminating the need for an additional workshop visit.
Regulatory challenge
Like many other aviation businesses, Avionik Straubing is simultaneously grappling with growing regulatory demands.
Alongside classic maintenance and certification regulations, topics such as safety management and cybersecurity are gaining in importance. In particular, modern networked avionics now makes IT security a relevant component of aircraft certification.
For medium-sized specialist businesses, this means additional documentation and personnel expenses.
However, it is precisely here that existing development and regulatory expertise can become a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
The change of ownership at Avionik Straubing is less of a break than a planned generational shift. Three employees who have known the company for decades are taking over a business whose expertise ranges from the repair of mechanical gyro instruments to the development and certification of modern digital avionics.
This continuity is quite significant for German general aviation. Specialists who equally master old and new technology and at the same time are able to develop their own approvals have become rare.
With the planned expansion of their range of services, Martin Scheifl, Josef Breu and Stefan Schönsteiner now want to lay the foundations for Avionik Straubing to continue growing after almost five decades.
Source references:
Aviation magazine
